Maplytics in times of UR12

Native Bing Maps Integration coming in with UR12

UR12 is scheduled for a phased roll out starting next week. With one of the offerings being Bing Maps Integration. This integration is made available as a setting that when activated by the users would show a link to open Bing Maps and automatically plot the address entered on the specified record.

What is Maplytics and why should you want to use it?

Maplytics continues to work towards being a “more than simple” address plotting on the map.  It is a geographical analytics tool. Some of the features supported include

·     Support for all entities that have address fields. You would be able to see any address included on any entity on the Map

·     Map is essentially dependent on Geo-coding data. Maplytics comes bundled with Bing Maps subscription that allows for use of Bing Maps Spatial service that will let you batch Geo-code bulk data. This does away with the need to worry about getting the data Geo-coded.

·      Save geographical search as static Personal Views in CRM

·      Ability to print the route and routing directions using multiple way-points.

·      Maplytics builds upon the inherent Dashboard feature of Dynamics CRM to provide Maplytics Dashboards to provide analytics based on CRM data including Sales

·     Color-coding CRM data plotted on the Map for better analysis and geographic representation of the data

·     Usual mapping solution would include Road View or Aerial View. You can now get a Street View of the address using Maplytics

Who is Maplytics for

Maplytics is still a must-have for business driven by geography and geographic data.

For more information check out the product details here. 

Maplytics Release Announcement !!

The much loved Geo-analytical tool for Dynamics CRM 2011 which uses Bing Maps API now has an update available that will make Maplytics a must have tool for Dynamics CRM

We have added the following new features in Maplytics 5.4 version,

1.      Support for all entities defined in Dynamics CRM. Configurable entity maps
2.      Ability to map the address fields to be used for Geo-coding
3.      Color coding of pushpins based on configurable categorizations
4.      Heat Maps added
5.      Configurable tool-tips
6.      Dashboards. You can now include Maplytics component as a Dashboard web resource
7.      Dashboard   queries is configurable
8.      Overlay of nearby locations like airports, restaurants etc. along with the Dynamics CRM search results
9.      Ability to save the geographic search results as static views in Dynamics CRM for later use
10.      Ability to export search results to external file
11.      Ability to save the geographic search results as static views in Dynamics CRM for later use

For more details have a look at the White Paper

Maplytics supports all CRM Deployment models namely On-Premise, On-Line, Office 365 and Partner-Hosted.

It is supplied as a managed solution that is easy to install and un-install without affecting your existing customization.

We already have a 15 day fully functional trial available of our product. We are now also making available for a limited period only, a Community Light version of the product. This product is free to use for the next 6 months for up to 5 users after which you can order the product from us and upgrade to the unlimited full license of the product.

You can download the light version from http://www.inogic.com/Trial/DynaMapsCommunityVersion.zip. This is valid until 26^th December 2012.

The light version has the following limitations.

1.            Available for use with only account, contact and opportunity entities
2.            Mapping capabilities restricted to plotting of 50 addresses at a time on the map
3.            Only 5 dashboards can be configured
4.            Only 5 way-points can be defined for routing

After downloading contact us with your CRM install details to avail the 6 month free license.

Contact us for the 15 day full trial of the product.

Note: Bing Maps API is chargeable and you need to purchase Bing Maps subscription from Microsoft. We have entered a contract with Microsoft Bing Maps partner to make this license available to you for use with Maplytics at a reasonable price.

Here is a complete list of features included in Maplytics:

1.       Plot any entity record on the map
2.       Street View for any address
3.       Color coding of pushpins based on configurable categorizations
4.       Routing using multiple way-points
5.       Geo-spatial analysis of Opportunity and Sales data for summary analysis
6.       Uses Dynamics CRM views that can be easily created using the Advanced Find feature of Dynamics CRM. No learning curve required
7.       Print the Map and Driving directions
8.       Configurable Entity maps and Dashboards to support any Dynamics CRM entity
9.       Dashboards. You can now include Maplytics component as a Dashboard web resource
10.       Dashboard queries is configurable
11.       Overlay of nearby locations like airports, restaurants etc. along with the Dynamics CRM search results
12.       Ability to save the geographic search results as static views in Dynamics CRM for later use
13.       Ability to export search results to external file
14.       Ability to save the geographic search results as static views in Dynamics CRM for later use

Go ahead and request the trials and pour in your valuable feedback!

Maplytics now available for CRM 2011

We are happy to announce the availability for Maplytics for CRM 2011. The new version now supports all 3 CRM deployment models On-Premise, Online as well as IFD.

Maplytics is geo-analysis tool that allows you to view your CRM data on a map as well as allow your Sales Rep on the field to plan their schedule with the aid of Maplytics.


This new release supports Street View. Street View allows you to get a road side view of the address


You can also select multiple addresses and have the tool plot the route through the addresses selected.


Ability to Print the map as well as the route directions so that it can be circulated within the team.


It can now be added as a Dashboard component in your Dashboard.

Click here for more details.

Active Directory integration for Users in Dynamics CRM

It is common knowledge that Dynamics CRM is based on Windows authentication. This means that for the users to be able to access Dynamics CRM, they should exist in Active Directory (AD) before they can be added as Users in Dynamics CRM.

At the time of adding a System User in CRM, it asks you to enter the windows logon id, with that entered, it automatically auto populates the other information for the user like user name, email address etc. This information is picked from the AD User account that was created.

If suppose, you would like some additional custom information to be brought over from AD when the user is created, you will need to read the AD account and have the plugin set the information in your custom attribute.

You will need to access the LDAP functions made available to read the AD user account. Read the information required and update it in CRM attributes.

Sample code:

//Get AD root path
objRootEntry = new DirectoryEntry(strRootPath);

//Init object for ADsearcher
objADSearcher = new DirectorySearcher(objRootEntry);

// search for a given user name
objADSearcher.Filter = String.Format(@"(&(objectClass=user)(anr={0}))", strLogin);

// Find
objResult = objADSearcher.FindOne();

//get the emaiid from the AD user properties //You can use your custom attribute property to read its value
if (objResult.GetDirectoryEntry().Properties["mail"] != null)
{
strUserEmail = objResult.GetDirectoryEntry().Properties["mail"].Value.ToString();
}

References:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa367033(VS.85).aspx

InoLink: QuickBooks - Dynamics CRM Integration Version 2.0 Released

We have come up with the next version of InoLink: QuickBooks - Dynamics CRM Integration

InoLink: QuickBooks is an integration link developed to integrate QuickBooks with Dynamics CRM. After detailed evaluation of the feedback received over a period of time we have come up with this version.

What’s new in this version?

1. The general look and feel has been vastly improved for seamless integration with Dynamics CRM.

2. Better user experience in terms of use of Ajax for user feedback to processes.

3. Additional feature added to the Promote Account functionality to support the Alternate Contact and multiple address feature of QuickBooks.

4. Ability to unlink existing linked accounts from Dynamics CRM to QuickBooks in case you want to no longer link the two records.

5. It now supports import of QuickBooks product types such as Inventory, Non-Inventory, Services, Other Charges, Inventory Assembly products.

6. Huge changes in the Sales Order/Invoice promote functionality to account for the discount and tax calculations.

7. Ability to associate discount with Discount type of Line items in QuickBooks so that they are taken over to QuickBooks correctly.

8. Once an account is linked to a customer in QuickBooks, ability to calculate tax of the order/invoice based on the Tax % in QuickBooks has been provided.

9. Closes the Sales Order in QuickBooks when an invoice associated with it has been promoted from CRM. This makes sure that promoting invoices from CRM does not leave the Sales Order in QB open.

For detailed information on the features of InoLink: QuickBooks Dynamics CRM Integration click here

Maplytics for Dynamics CRM

Further to our post on Maps integration for Dynamics CRM using Live Maps https://community.dynamics.com/blogs/crminogic/archive/2009/04/27/maps-integration-for-dynamics-crm-4.aspx we have been able to compile a list of mapping components that can be made available on different entities of CRM with the aim of enabling Geo analysis of the data stored in CRM.The entities covered are:
1. Lead/Account/Contact – Plotting of the primary address of these on the map. It also provides the directions to the customer address starting from the organization address.
2. Plotting of Accounts from a selected range of Accounts that come within the specified distance. The aim here it to be able to list out all accounts that are within a given range from the Starting point.

3. Geo mapping of Leads/Accounts on the map with the aim to allow the users to analyze their customer based on geographical regions.

4. Geo mapping of Sales/Opportunity on the map with the aim to allow the users to analyze their sales by geographical regions and thereby be able to design strategies focusing on a given region.Some of the features are:
Ø Each of these when plotted on the map allow the users to drill down ability and also be able to open Contact/Lead/Account etc CRM form to check further details of these.

Ø While searching for directions, you can specify the Route that you want to take and you would get the direction via the specified location.

Ø View Summary or Detail information

Ø Use of Advanced find view for providing the record selection to be plotted on the map.

Preview:

Here clicking on Get Direction one can see the following screen.

Click here to check further details.

Maps Integration for Dynamics CRM 4

There has often been a need especially when you have Sales rep requiring to visit the clients on-site to be able to get the directions to the customer location. Google Maps, Live Maps, Mappoint are some of the services that you can use to incorporate this feature in CRM. While Mappoint is a paid service, the other two are free services and can be used to plot the customer address on the map.

One of the important pre-requisites while plotting a customer address would be to geo-code (get the latitude and longitude) the addresses. It is using these geo-coding that the addresses are plotted on Map. Since a customer’s address would not change often, it is a good idea to write a workflow that will geo-code the customer addresses each time a new customer is created or its address updated.

The following webservice from Google can be used for geo-coding addresses.
http://maps.google.com/maps/geo?q=address&Key=abcd&output=xml&sensor=false

Once the addresses are geo-coded, we can add a tab on CRM account/contact form and display the customer address in a map. The map will place a pushpin at the customer location.

This can further be extended to get the Route and Directions to the customer location from a base location.

Using Live Maps it can be done using the following code

locations = new Array(‘addr1’,’addr2’);

//Make an object of RouteOptions
var options = new VERouteOptions;

// Draw the route
options.DrawRoute = true;

// So the map doesn't change:
options.SetBestMapView = true;

// Call this function when map route is determined:
//options.RouteCallback = ShowTurns;

// Show as miles
options.DistanceUnit = VERouteDistanceUnit.Mile;

// Show the disambiguation dialog
options.ShowDisambiguation = true;

//Show the directions on the map
map.GetDirections(locations, options);";

This will show a map with the route marked starting from the start point to the end location.

Another use of integrating maps would be to search of location within a given distance range. So you are visiting a customer in “Redmond” and would want to find out the other customers that are in and around this location so that you could schedule an appointment with them. Or it could be used for schedule service requests for a sales rep. If a salesrep was already scheduled for a call in Redmond area and there was another ticket raised for that area it could be handed to the same sales rep for servicing.

This could be done by finding the distance between the base location and other customer addresses and plotting the customers that fall within the requested distance on the map. One pushpin will be placed on the map for each customer address that is being shown in the map.



There is so much you can do with Maps :) And it is pretty easy to as its shown above and requires a bit SDK skills and programming knowledge. The web is full of details as to how to use various maps functionality to achieve the same. We at Inogic were debating whether to come up with an add-on for Live Maps integration at all or just leave it for you people to figure out on your after giving you the above methodology.

Intuit QuickBooks integration link with Dynamics CRM 4.0 released

QuickBooks is one of the most popular accounting packages for the SME segment. There has always been a need to integrate CRM with accounting system to avoid duplicity as well as to improve productivity and efficiency by providing the sales people using CRM a view of the financial details of the customer so as to enable them to handle the sales/marketing process better.

To satisfy these needs, Inogic lab have come up with a link which has been deployed at a number of customer sites and we have now packaged it and would like to announce the release of version 3.0 of the integration having the following features:

Customer Synchronization: Accounts of Dynamics CRM and Customers of QuickBooks are completely synchronized. You can save an Account in Dynamics CRM and promote it to QuickBooks. Vice versa, you can synchronize customers from QuickBooks applications to view and edit it in Dynamics CRM. Any edit and update on the Dynamics CRM side reflects in QuickBooks in the real time.

Invoices and Orders Viewing in Dynamics CRM: Complete view of a particular customers Invoice and Orders history from QuickBooks in Dynamics CRM within the Account form.

Promote Orders from Dynamics CRM: This feature is extremely useful for Sales people to make Orders against opportunities in CRM and then promote it to Quick Books for further processing.

Quick Customer Account Information: Various financial important data like Credit Limit, Aging, and Terms etc from the Quick Books is available against the Dynamics CRM customer for viewing by Sales People.

Versions supported:
QuickBooks: Enterprise 8.0 US/UK Edition

Microsoft Dynamics CRM: 4.0 On-premise (IFD not supported), Partner Hosted and CRM Live.

The challenge for integration between QB and Dynamics was the inherent difference in the SDK and databases and having a detailed knowledge of the accounting system as well as CRM system. It is not easy to code and develop an integration which takes care of deduplication, checks out the security rights and also takes into account that accounting compliance are maintained. You also need to have a knowledge of QB SDK as well as be confident about the financial aspects of the system as Order Entry process needs to be duplicated in the integration. If you require more information with regards to QB and would like to pick our brains in terms of integration with any other accounting package which you are attempting, please be free to email us and we will be more than willing to discuss our experience with the same.

Integrating DOTNETNUKE with Self Service Portal for Dynamics CRM

DotNetNuke:

This is a widely used Open source framework available to develop websites without requiring much technical knowledge. Its framework provides for developing custom modules that can integrate seamlessly with the main DNN website. DNN also takes care of security by providing website owners to provide access to different sets of users to different functionalities on the portal.

Self Service Portal:

Any self service portal (in our case Inogic has a product for Self Service portal/Customer Portal) to allow CRM users to allow their customers to register tickets through the Portal and monitor its progress online. These customers use the portal to register incidents that are directly created in CRM and any updates by the company on their case is reflected to them through the portal.


Linking the two:

We need to create a DNN module for our Self Service Portal that can be installed within DNN. DNN uses the concept of User Controls. We needed to convert each of the web forms that we had to user controls.

Once they were converted to User controls you can add these Controls to DNN and associate it with your module. Once the controls have been uploaded, user can use these controls to add on their pages as and where they wish. can include these in your DNN module. These controls can then be used by end users to add on the pages they wish.

The Self Service Portal had its inbuilt security that was integrated with CRM by adding custom attributes to store the login id and password of the customers. This was taken care of in DNN module by using the DNN security. So only users that are registered on the DNN site had access to the Portal. We could well do away with this security check from CRM as DNN already has a robust security architecture.

Advantages of linking:

A customer centric website can be designed using DNN by the users easily while also utilizing the entire features of CRM's customer service portal.

Microsoft Office Accounting Integration Link with Microsoft Dynamics CRM released which supports Dynamics CRM version 4.0 On-Premise/CRM Live

Microsoft Office Accounting is one of the most popular accounting packages from Microsoft for small and medium industry. Dynamics CRM is one of the most popular CRM systems being deployed by Microsoft consultants. Linking the two applications has been a crying need for resellers, prospects and end users of Dynamics CRM system.

To bridge the gap for the users, we have come up with a link which has the following features:

Customer Synchronization: Accounts of Dynamics CRM and Customers of Office Accounting are completely synchronized. You can save an Account in Dynamics CRM and promote it to Office Accounting. Vice versa, you can synchronize customers from Office Accounting applications to view and edit it in Dynamics CRM. Any edit and update on the Dynamics CRM side reflects in Office Accounting in the real time.

Invoices and Orders Viewing in Dynamics CRM: Complete view of a particular customers Invoice and Orders history in Dynamics CRM within its tabs.

Promote Orders from Dynamics CRM: This feature is extremely useful for Sales people to make Orders against opportunities in CRM and then promote it to Office Accounting for further processing.

Quick Customer Account Information: Various financial important data like Credit Limit, Aging, and Terms etc from the Office Accounting is available against the Dynamics CRM customer for viewing of Sales People.

Versions supported:
Microsoft Office Accounting: US Edition – 2008/2009/2010/2011, UK Edition - 2008/2009/2010
Microsoft Dynamics CRM: 4.0 On-premise and CRM Live.

Download White Paper